Online Marketing Tips, News, and Tutorials

Many sales and marketing departments in companies run separately, with each team working to prove its superiority over the other. In today’s market where consumers meet the salesperson while they are in the last quarter of the last cycle, teamwork between sales and marketing teams is crucial to the success of the business.

Email is now one of the most important business tools ever provided to the business world. Amazingly, it’s earned this position in just a little less than two decades. However, many businesses to use the full power of their email lists.

The primary marketing goal of your vocational school or online university is to increase enrollment. To grab the attention of potential students and provide compelling reasons to enroll in one of your programs. Potential students are a little more sophisticated today than they were in years past. They conduct more research before making a decision. They rely heavily on the information they find online and use that to evaluate their options. You can flood every media channel with advertising campaigns that will attract more than enough traffic to your website and brand but stopping there is selling yourself short. The majority (like 95%) of those visiting your website will not be ready to fill an application or schedule a tour. So, what can you do to convert more of these visitors and boost student enrollment?

In all likelihood, your company website is missing out BIG on its web traffic conversions. The truth is, you spend so much time and energy on growing your website, but the vast majority of your traffic disappears into the ether, never to be heard from again. We covered this concept called ‘Website Traffic Evaporation’ in another post which expanded on the effective use of Calls To Action. Most websites do an excellent job of attracting a specific type of visitor: those with their wallets already in hand. Perhaps they're ready to buy before they've even landed on the site. Some of these people are loyal customers while others are website visitors that you simply caught at the right point in time. While it's great to have these customers, and we definitely want them coming back, what about everyone else?

Consistently hitting the bullseye during competition is an enviable skill that brings financial success and pride to only a few, and disappointment or defeat to countless others. Darts, arrows, target shooting, even those money-grabbing fair games; only few will walk away in victory, leaving others to question what just happened. The world of marketing is no different. If you’re expecting to successfully attract new students, hitting the right target boils down to your approach, technique, and consistency.

Now and then a mobile game will spark a good deal of discussion, as Angry Birds and Flappy Bird did in 2013. Pokemon Go is different. Businesses around the world have benefited from the app, with patrons flocking to their stores or restaurants to catch Pokemon and then staying to eat or shop. Some areas have experienced reduced crime rates because of an increase in foot traffic, with criminals or being caught in the act or being discouraged from acting at all due to a lack of privacy. Pokemon Go has even improved the health of many of its users by encouraging them to walk long distances to find valuable Pokemon. The app has entered the public consciousness in a major way, being reported at by every major media outlet in the country. In the process it has sparked a discussion about the budding world of augmented reality. Can the technology used in Pokemon Go be successfully implemented by companies to drive sales? One thing is certain: the potential of augmented reality as a marketing tool for businesses has never seemed so bright.

If we try to imagine the world without search engines, we quickly realize how dependent we are on them. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing have increasingly become an integral part of our daily lives. A poll conducted by CNN showed that people viewed Google more favorably than tech giant Apple. A common response people give when asked a question is “just Google it” since it can generate an answer within seconds. When we need directions, many of us turn to Google maps to show us the fastest route and where to avoid bad traffic. It should come as no surprise that when business owners want insight into what drives traffic to their websites, they turn to Google Analytics.

Super Bowl 50 is this Sunday. And while it is likely the last game we will see future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning play, most of us will be tuned into the game in anticipation and high expectations for the commercials. This is no doubt the only time of the year our fingers don't make a mad dash for the remote control when a commercial comes on. In 1967, you could have secured a 30 second spot for only $40,000. This year, a 30 second commercial costs a breezy $5 Million... up from $4.5 Million in 2015. While that may seem like a steep price tag for 30 seconds, being parked in front of 117 Million commercial seeking viewers presents an impressive audience. Many brands take additional measures to increase the shelf-live of their commercials through use of social media (retweets and likes anyone?) and clever campaigns like Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl".

Inbox zero... everyone's goal. We scan subject lines and (maybe) the first couple sentences of 134 unopened emails to see what requires our immediate attention, what can be filed away in a "read later" folder and what catches our attention and needs to be read now. So when you sit on the opposite side of the inbox as the sender, what can you do to be that email that needs to be read now? The subject of your email can be the difference maker between an open and immediate filing in the trash can. Assuming that you email message made it past the spam filter, cutting through the noise of the inbox and the grabbing the attention of most people is no easy task. Here are some general rules you can follow to help increase your open rate and be that Inbox Hero (got stars in his eyes). Sorry... I couldn't help myself.

The end of the year is upon us. T-minus two weeks until we turn the page to a whole new year ahead of us. Before we jump to creating our 2016 personal resolutions and business goals, we should really step back and look at how we did in 2016. What would your 2015 report card look like? Let's take a look.